Talking cricket (and other things) with Chris Bishop
Despite what he describes as a “hectic” schedule, Chris Bishop, the 36-year-old MP for Hutt South is relaxed and not short of a joke as he sits down in the mustard yellow seats of his new parliamentary office. In many instances, those jokes come at his own expense.
Speaking of his high school cricketing days Bishop says “whenever I say now ‘oh I played cricket for HIBS’ they say ‘oh man you must be fantastic’, and I don’t disabuse them of that, but the truth is I love cricket but I’m an adequate player that’s about it.”

Bishop’s cricketing career didn’t end at HIBS however, nowadays he is the co-captain of the parliamentary cricket team, alongside Labour’s Kieran McAnulty. They have annual fixtures against the diplomats, the media, as well as charity games, such as this year’s match in support of the Te Omanga Hospice. When questioned about his cricketing attributes Bishop lights up and says he does a bit with both bat and ball.
“I bowl these medium pace in-duckers, I bowl off the wrong foot, a bit like Lance Cairns. So when I’ve got a two-piece ball, and it’s a bit humid you know the ball moves a lot. But when it’s a sunny day and the pitch is rock hard and it’s a four-piece and it’s a good batsman I tend to get tonked.”
This year New Zealand also had a team play at the Parliamentary Cricket World Cup, which ran adjacent to the Cricket World Cup in England and Wales. Seven New Zealand MP’s and some parliamentary staffers represented New Zealand against seven other teams from around the world: Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, South Africa, Australia, England, Afghanistan. At one stage there was talk of cricketing greats Imran Khan, and Sachin Tendulkar being involved in the tournament but Bishops says “unfortunately they didn’t come.”
“I bowled quite well in the UK actually, I got four for twenty against Pakistan, got out the Governor of Kashmir. He was not happy, he came up to me after the game and he was not happy,” Bishop says. “I bowled him a big in-ducker and he lifted his head, tried to smash it through mid-wicket and got bowled.”
Members of the New Zealand Parliamentary team also got to attend the Cricket World Cup Final, which New Zealand lost in heartbreaking fashion to hosts England. Bishop says it was “one of the best” but also “one of the toughest” experiences of his life.
“The result was tough to handle but really proud of the way the guys played and performed and carried themselves on the world stage,” he says.

The MP for Lower Hutt since 2017, Bishop is passionate about the Hutt, loves living there, and was raised in Lower Hutt, starting at Eastern Hutt School, then on to Hutt Intermediate, and Hutt International Boys School.
“Everyday I wake up and I get to help make Lower Hutt better, make it a better place and it’s a huge privilege and an honour,” he says. “I wouldn’t ever want to be the MP for anywhere else.”
An issue at the forefront of Bishop’s mind, which relates to both his role as the National Party spokesperson for transport and as the MP for Hutt South, is the Melling interchange. Bishop is campaigning for a new interchange, which would remove the traffic lights and allow traffic to flow freely through the busy interchange. However, it was announced in April this year that it will not go ahead until at least after 2028.
“It’s something that should be happening now, we promised it at the 2017 election, it was a campaign commitment from National. It’s now been pushed back to 2029–2030 by the current government, so I’m campaigning really hard to bring that forward.”
“It’s a really important project for Lower Hutt,” Bishop says.
Bishop first started working in parliament back in 2007 after obtaining an honours degree in law and politics from Victoria University in Wellington. His first role was as a researcher for John Key during the lead up to the 2008 election. He then went on to work on the staff of Jerry Brownlee before moving out of parliament for a two-year stint as corporate affairs manager at Phillip Morris, a tobacco company.
Then in 2013, he returned to parliament as a senior ministerial advisor for Steven Joyce, before becoming a National List MP after the 2014 election. While he was a backbencher he had one of his proudest moments in Parliament so far, seeing a members bill of his own drawn from the ballot and passed unanimously.
The bill was designed to see live organ donors receive proper compensation and Bishop says it was “pretty awesome” and something he was “really proud of.”
The Act now sees live organ donors receive compensation of 100 per cent of their earnings for up to 12 weeks after the operation when previously they had only received the equivalent of the sickness benefit while recovering.
“It’s designed to fairly compensate people for what their doing, which is essential sacrificing part of their body to help somebody else,” Bishop says. “It was also designed to increase the number of people donating organs.”
As well as his presence in Lower Hutt, Bishop also has a large presence on social media whether it be Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. He says that social media can bring politicians closer to the public and the public tends to like the insight it allows into their local MPs.
“I try and just keep things real, you know, I love cricket, I love hard rock music, I like burgers, I love my dog, I love my wife, and so my social media tends to reflect who I am,” Bishop says.
He says that although traditional media is still really important, social media is a way for politicians to speak directly to people which he says is particularly important for issues such as euthanasia and abortion, which have been going through parliament this year.
“It’s a way of me explaining the way I voted and why I voted that way in my own words sort of unfiltered by the media, and in some detail.”
He also uses it to promote Lower Hutt, whether that be local restaurants and cafes, local companies and initiatives, events, or the natural environment.
Bishop’s says that he generally gets pretty good feedback about the things he posts on social media, although his wife Jenna doesn’t always think his jokes on social media are funny.
“The younger people tend to find the memes quite funny, so every now and then I do a meme that I find funny, my wife keeps on saying you gotta stop doing it because they’re not funny,” he says. “I find them amusing so I throw them up every now and again.”
Bishop says his experience of being an MP has made him a more well-rounded person and made him appreciate the diversity of our communities. When it comes to what he’s learnt in parliament he chuckles and says “A lot of people, now that I’m an MP, say I’m a lot nicer.”